Are you back east? On the west coast the pool contractor acts as a general contractor we don't have apurtanance agreements.

I'm in the Seattle area. Here the guys only like to do the pool. Everything else must be sub contracted out. The gas, the plumbing and the electrical. They will run all the pool lines to the pool house & equipment, but from there I'm on my own for hook up of the utilities. The bids came from the PB referrals....

I even had to pay for upgrading my gas line and gas meter. You'd think the local utility would do it for free since I'll be using a heck of alot more gas...evidently that only happens if it's for "necessary" utilities, cooking, heat. A pool doesn't count as "necessary".

In california the gas company doesn't charge for up sizing the gas meter. You should look for some other subcontractors .

The ammount of pools that the top 4 builders in seattle build combined is less than the #5 builder in markets like california and arizona.

To be honest we would love to keep everything in house, but all of the good subcontractors are very expensive.
By working directly for the clients, this hopefully makes the project affordable by keeping our mark up off of it.

It's really tough, because of how critical clients are in this market, its really hard to find people who do a really good job at flatwork in Seattle. The people who do a good job are very busy and can command a premium and still have a 6 month backlog.

Puget Sound Energy has started to charge for upsizing meters. I agree that it is foolish because you are going to be using more fuel, and you have to buy the at fuel from them. Unfortunately unless you want to use more expensive fuel sources (propane, or electric) you are at their mercy.

Poolmissy, those are outrageous prices based on my market, but if that's what they get in your market, well, "the price is what the price is". Its either pay them or do it yourself. I think if I had to pay those prices, I would probably be doing it all myself or not doing it at all. There must be a huge shortage of skilled labor in your area and very strict enforcement of contractor licensing laws to keep the scabs (unlicensed contractors) from bringing prices down. One thing to remember, just because the sub charges a premium doesn't mean you will get premium work. In fact, in markets where there is a skilled labor shortage, the work is usually rushed and can be shabby. I hope it all works our for you.

A couple troubling things here. Yeah, the prices are outrageous - no question about it. But what is even more outrageous is that your supposed pool contractor doesn't have an established relationship with one (or several) trusted electricians and concrete guys! That is unbelievable. What if he hits rock? Is he going to expect you to find a blaster and schedule it yourself? Cripes, if you have to do all the legwork, you might as well just sub everything out yourself and save a ton of money.

I built my own 18x36 vinyl inground back in 2004, and believe me, it's not rocket science. I paid $6500 for the pool kit, and I sub'd out the dig, the blasting, the electrical, all of the concrete decking work, and I had a local pool service set the liner for me. About the only thing I did myself was bolt together the walls, pour the bond beam, and put up the fence after all was said and done. So...$6500 for the kit, about $8500 for everything else, and another $1700 for the fence materials. Heck, my entire pool was less than your electrical estimate.

If you haven't gone too far with this "pool builder", I'd seriously think about talking to another one...one that has trusted contractor relationships. Any pool builder...heck, any building trades contractor for that matter...has trusted subs that they know and work with.

Brad,

Thanks for the suggestions, however I interviewed 3 top pool builders in the seattle area - they all work the same. Since pools are not as common here I have few builders to choose from. All 3 bids came in almost exactly the same and none of them offer to do utilities.

I'm not afraid of bidding the job out to more reasonable professionals.

I just shared the information to see of others were as shocked as I was - and it appears so!

I don't see this as a big incovenience and it gives me more control of the job. I fully expect to get some bids that are more in reason. I'm sure these 2 were just exceptions rather than the trend.

I've already received another bid for the concrete work. $10K - (1/3 of the other bid) which is exactly what I budgeted for.

We are doing an extreme backyard makeover and one pool builder turned me down flat because of the scope of the yard prep.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures Here

Brad, I think you are making a lot of assumptions.

If you read, "The bids came from the PB referrals.."

I work for the company builder her pool, and I understand her frustration.

These are trusted contractors. The level of work that we and other builders do in this area is different than many markets. Unfortunately very few contractors qualify, or have so much work that she wouldn't be swimming until 2009.

The reason that we have our clients work directly with the contractors is because if we sub them, and put them on our books we have to mark up the allready astronomical (normal for this area) prices. If we use the typical 10% contractor markup, its really not worth the exposure, and the liability that we create by having them under our umbrella.

We do however work very closely with any contractor the client chooses to help insure that the project is done correctly.

Her pool is going to be awesome, but as she mentioned it is a difficult site, and it effects the prices of all the people that have to work on it.